Theresa May called for a snap election hoping to increase her parliamentary majority. It now looks like she will fall short of a simple majority, if exit polls turn out to be reliable (they have been in past British elections).

British election exit poll points to unexpected trouble for May that could test her hold on power

Early pre-election polls suggested she would get what she wanted, with the Tories enjoying leads of 20 points or more over the far-left Corbyn and his Labour Party.

But May, who endlessly touted herself as a “strong and stable” leader on the campaign trail, finished the race being tagged by critics as “weak and wobbly” after high-profile U-turns and a generally underwhelming delivery as a retail politician.

Corbyn – for decades a far-left backbencher who unexpectedly vaulted to the party’s leadership in 2015 – faced a steeply uphill challenge to sell himself as a potential prime minister. But he was widely seen to have mounted a far more credible challenge than many thought possible, running a nothing-to-lose campaign focused on ending seven years of Tory austerity and shrinking the gap between rich and poor.